On a chilly night with damp air wafting in from the creek north of the stadium, the teams combined for 26 strikeouts. Express hitters kept warm by swinging through Will Smith's curveball; he fanned 11 in just five innings. Still, they managed to put a few runs on the board.

In his AAA debut and MLB tune-up, Nick Tepesch limited the Storm Chasers to five singles in five innings. He walked none and struck out five. Tepesch's fastball ranged from 88-92 MPH, and he mixed in a slider, curve and change. Honestly, Tepesch is a bit boring to watch, but I mean that as a compliment. He doesn't wow you. He just changes angles and speeds to keep hitters off balance, and when he also works low, he's quite effective. He'll throw any pitch in any count, and his quick, compact delivery (belying his 6'4" frame) seemed to add a little zip to his fastball. Tepesch threw 56 of 77 pitches for strikes.

Josh Lindblom tossed the next three innings to stretch him out for starting duty. Lindblom's line was pretty: a lone hit and walk plus four strikeouts on a modest 36 pitches. However, the quality was mixed. Lindblom throws an 88-93 fastball (as of Thursday), slider, change and curve. The curve in particular was scary even though it garnered a couple of swinging strikes -- a very loopy offering that announces itself as a curve the millisecond it leaves his hand. He threw a nice early change but had two more that could have been punished by better hitters. Lindblom rarely threw either in the Majors, so they may not feel comfortable right now. (Recall what I said the other day about the minors being a venue for learning.)

SS Jurickson Profar singled up the middle in his first AAA at-bat and subsequently stole second but was stranded. He later drew a walk and singled again. Profar's hardest contact resulted in a line-drive out short of the warning track in center. Here's video of his first hit.

In his AAA debut, CF Engel Beltre took a called strike three in his first appearance but reached on two singles and an error. He also stole second. In the 7th, Beltre was picked off first, but the first baseman Xavier Nady threw the ball into left field, allowing Beltre to reach third with ease. Then, LF David Lough inexplicably overthrew third, and Beltre scampered home.

3B Mike Olt squeezed a grounder down the third-base line for a double and struck out twice. Both Profar and Olt both made throwing errors in the field after diving stops.

Doubleheader today, consisting of two seven-inning games. RHP Tyler Tufts was placed on the Disabled List to bring the roster down to 25. In the minors, DL stint can be as few as seven days.

High-A: Rained out

Make-up game May 25th.

Low-A: Rained out

Doubleheader Saturday.

Five Years Ago Yesterday

In his full-season debut, Derek Holland tossed six innings of no-run, one-hit ball with nine strikeouts for low-A Clinton. The bullpen surrendered ten runs. Poor Ryan Roberts was 0-4 with three errors for Oklahoma. LF Brandon Boggs was 0-4 in his AAA debut. Frisco's Warner Madrigal picked up his second save in two nights.

I forgot to mention yesterday: On April 3, 2008, Texas passed Nelson Cruz through waivers and outrighted him to AAA.

Today's Starters:

AAA: Justin Grimm

AA: Cody Buckel and Ryan Feierabend

Hi-A: Luke Jackson

Lo-A: CJ Edwards

Scott Lucas

Newberg Report (newbergreport.com)

rangers.scottlucas.com

twitter: @scottrlucas

Jamey Newberg

Dallas attorney Jamey Newberg has been commenting on Rangers from the big club down through the entire farm system since 1998.

Scott Lucas

Scott Lucas was born in Arlington, Texas, to Richard and Becky Lucas. He lived mostly in Arlington before moving to Austin, where he graduated from The University of Texas. Scott works for Austin Valuation Consultants, Ltd., and has published several boring articles about real estate appraisal and environmental contamination. He makes a swell margarita and refuses to run longer than ten kilometres.

Eleanor Czajka

Eleanor grew up watching the AAA Mudhens in Toledo, Ohio. A loyal Ranger fan since 1979, she works "behind the scenes" at the Newberg Report.